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Farm owners have been making hay for 60 years, and there is still no end in sight

Deirdre Hipwell

May 26 2012, 1:01am, The Times

Growth in the value of farmland has often been the strongest during times of economic difficulty, Knight Frank saidJustin Foulkes/The Travel Library/Rex Features

Investors who bought farmland when the Queen acceded the throne in 1952 should be feeling particularly pleased with themselves today.

English agricultural land has increased in value by 10,745 per cent during Her Majesty’s 60 years on the throne, according to research published today.

A canny investor who paid an average of £56 for an acre of land in 1952 could sell it today for £6,073. Disposing of it last year would have yielded £6,156, as the highest price per acre for farmland was reached last June.

Andrew Shirley, the head of rural property research at Knight Frank, who compiles the agent’s Farmland Index, said: “Queen Elizabeth II has presided over a huge increase in the price of farmland. Land prices have increased during every…